Minister meets childhood practice training providers

18/06/2019

Scottish Government Minister for Children and Young People Maree Todd MSP joined us and a group of professionals who deliver the Bachelor of Arts (BA) childhood practice and the professional development award (PDA) childhood practice for a development day on 6 June in Perth.

Following the event Children’s Minister Maree Todd said:

‘I was inspired by students I met at the childhood practice development day in Perth who will in future be working in nurseries, after school clubs and playgroups across Scotland, delivering early learning and childcare to a very high standard.

‘I was greatly impressed by the students’ dedication and commitment. I came away from the meeting with the reinforced belief that people choosing to study early learning and childcare are doing so because they want to give all children the best possible start.’

We hosted the development day to provide colleagues in higher education institutes the opportunity for professional discussion about the need to have up to 11,000 additional workers in the early learning and childcare (ELC) sector from August next year. This is to accommodate the Scottish Government’s commitment to almost double the entitlement to free ELC from August 2020 to 1,140 hours a year.

Students who graduated from the BA and PDA Childhood Practice were able to share their learning with the Minister and the rest of the audience. The group heard from the Gender Friendly Nursery group and the Scottish Government Learning for Sustainability Team. We rounded off the day by hearing from Jane Malcolm from the University of Edinburgh who shared her PhD on love and compassion in the early years.